American Literature Essays Examples For College & High School Students in PDF

85147 total results

Maturity in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (815 words, 3 pages)

15 November 2009Period 1The Journey to MaturityHarper Lee carefully implements these two characters in To Kill a Mockingbird to fabricate a truly believable sequence of events that lead to Scouts maturity. She makes the reader realize that the frontier of adulthood and maturity does not come with age, but rather ... Read More

The Similarities of Serial KillersMost people have a general idea of who "Hannibal Lecter" is. For those who do not, he is a main character of a well known book and movie The Silence of the Lambs, by Thomas Harris. In the novel, Lecter is institutionalized for committing cannibalistic acts. ... Read More

A Comparison of The Crucible and The Catcher in the Rye (1254 words, 4 pages)

The Crucible versus The Catcher in the RyeAll people want more control over their lives. Some individuals also desire power over others. Their ambition for it often harms others it causes long-term problems in society. These individuals believe theyre superior to others, and will deceive anyone to achieve their ascent ... Read More

The Perspectives of American Literature from the Works of Dickinson’s (1485 words, 5 pages)

Perspectives of American Literature FinalLike other national literatures, American literature was shaped by the history of the country that produced it. In its first century, America was simply a group of colonies scattered along the eastern shores. These colonies gradually expanded inland, ultimately reaching the western coasts. Meanwhile, through the ... Read More

Finding the American Dream in Hunter S. Thompson’s Book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (814 words, 3 pages)

Has it ever occurred to you that the limits society and our peers put on your behavior are as simple greatly impact our reactions to whatever life throws at us? What part of this invisible force so actively shoves us into the seamless framework of a regular individual? In the ... Read More

The Use of Satirical Humor in Suzanne Collins’ Book Series (463 words, 2 pages)

Suzanne Collins thrashed the media with her satirical book series. The main point and meaning behind the entire book series lies within her satirical humor. Where Suzanne Collins truly shines is how she depicts the Capitol and the people of the Capitol. What the Capitol and its people represent is ... Read More

The Concept of Morality in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Novel The Great Gatsby (972 words, 3 pages)

The Subjectivity of MoralsThe concept of morality has been a high point of discussion since the philosophers of Greece, and it's ever changing values have wrote the underlying concepts of religions, ideologies, and empires abroad. With that weighty burden, however, comes the taint of subjectivity, the death to morals by ... Read More

Ignoring One’s Flaws in the Play A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams (2469 words, 8 pages)

The Haze of DesireHow easily can the fragility of the human psyche allow intolerable treatment to simply fade away in the minds of victims? Even faced with the greatest hailstorms of mental duress, the mind somehow finds a way to turn an atrocity into an attraction. Senses of normality are ... Read More

Rhetorical Analysis of Blue-Collar Brilliance by Mike Rose (922 words, 4 pages)

Rhetorical Analysis of Blue-Collar BrillianceI chose the article Blue-Collar Brilliance by Mike Rose. Mike grew up with his mother who worked as a waitress at a restaurant, and that was where he spent most of his time silently observing his mother. He couldnt understand how his mother managed to do ... Read More

The Dynamic Structure of The Great Gatsby, a Novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald (4446 words, 13 pages)

Form, Structure, and PlotThe unique structure of The Great Gatsby demonstrates the dynamic story it is recognized to be, despite the fact that Nick Carraway-the narrator-knew the true sequence of events. The story itself is chronological, Carraway gives background information of the years preceding the events and the events proceeding ... Read More

An Analysis of Symbolism of Characters’ Personalities in “Young Goodman Brown” (625 words, 4 pages)

NameTutorCourseDate "Young Goodman Brown" - Symbolism Highlights Characters' Personalities Within the "Young Goodman Brown" story, Nathaniel Hawthorne employssymbolism to highlight the personalities of various characters. Forexample, a certain character named Faith campaigns for religious purity.The name 'Faith' thus symbolizes the Godly inclination of its bearer.Likewise, a certain unnamed man carries ... Read More

The Conflict of Good and Evil in Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne (696 words, 4 pages)

ENGL102-91The Conflict of Good and Evil in Young Goodman BrownNathaniel Hawthorne draws on his puritanical upbringing in the story Young Goodman Brown. His familiarity with Puritans and the Salem Witch Trials probably inspired the underlying religious theme of the story. Although the story can be construed as the descent of ... Read More

A Focus on a Marriage That Never Was in Bobbie Ann Mason’s “Shiloh” (921 words, 4 pages)

Not a HomeBobbie Ann Masons Shiloh captures a marriage that never really existed, and ultimately crumbles like an abandoned house. Mason sporadically presents the marriage of Leroy and Norma Jean Moffit depicting a young shotgun wedding (inspired by conception) where the couple looses the child. To make ends meet (we ... Read More

Montag’s Decision Making Process in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (1280 words, 4 pages)

Making the Right Choice Always Earns Some Kind of RewardThroughout Fahrenheit 451, Guy Montag is faced with a question that everyone has asked himself at one time or another Should I do what I know is right in my heart, or should I do what everyone else is doing? In ... Read More

A Child of Madness in The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (703 words, 4 pages)

NameInstructors NameCourseDateA Child of MadnessCharlotte Perkins Gilmans chilling tale The Yellow Wallpaper stains a design of mental illness through a feminist lens. While it is safe to assume that within the story Gilmans narrator is insane (perhaps paranoid schizophrenia coupled with a bit of post-partum depression), this should not overshadow ... Read More

Character Analysis of Bill Loman’s Impulsive Behavior In Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller (640 words, 3 pages)

Within Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman" play, Biff Loman is animpulsive character. To this end, in spite of Willy Loman's mentalinstability, Biff argues with Willy. Further, Biff shuns the business worlddue to its competitive nature, thus illustrating impulsiveness. Biff alsoillustrates impulsiveness by storming out of Bill Oliver's office. Thisessay ... Read More

A Critique of Mark Twain’s Advice to Youth (378 words, 2 pages)

Advice to Youth Rhetorical Analysis RDAs stated by Mark Twain, The elastic heart of youth cannot be compressed into one constrained shape long at a time. People have many differing views regarding the way a child should be raised, yet there is a lack of consensus among these beliefs. Some ... Read More

The Tragic Death of Snowden in Heller’s Catch-22 (348 words, 1 pages)

As Snowden lies in the plane with his guts spilling out, Heller gives his novel Catch-22 meaning with the young gunners final secret. His death is dark and messy, and Heller employs the situation to demonstrate that in death, individuality is lost.Snowdens his tragic death adds an existentialist meaning to ... Read More

An Analysis of the Short Story The Sphinx by Edgar Allan Poe (1488 words, 4 pages)

The SphinxEdgar Allan Poe wrote the short story entitled The Sphinx in 1850. It was written based on an actual cholera outbreak which hit New York during the early 1830s carried over from Europe and easily lingered in the Northeast Region of the United States for the next thirty years. ... Read More

Double Consciousness in Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man and W.E.B. Du Bois’s The Souls of Black Folks (2924 words, 8 pages)

Reconciling Double ConsciousnessW.E.B. Du Bois coined the term double consciousness in order to describe the dual identity, the cognitive dissonance, that black Americans lived with. Du Bois wrote The Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this American word,a world which ... Read More

Account of the Life of Edgar Allan Poe and Analysis of His Short Story The Black Cat (1489 words, 5 pages)

Edgar Allan Poe was born in 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts on the 19th of January. A year later, Poes father left the family and Poes mother died at the age of twenty-four. Edgar, along with his other siblings, were considered orphans around the time and each of them were put ... Read More

Alcohol Addiction and Its Effects on the Family in the Novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (3117 words, 9 pages)

In A Tree Grows in Brooklyn the addiction of alcohol falls hard on the father Johnny. This novel even shows how alcohol is hard for the family to handle and how the alcohol is hurting the family.Exploring the use of alcohol,the effects of how alcohol is bad for your body ... Read More

A Review of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “Girl in the Yellow Wallpaper” (887 words, 4 pages)

MelancholiaIn Charlotte Perkins Gilmans Girl in the Yellow Wallpaper, we see a story about a woman fighting depression. Throughout this battle, the woman, (Jane) is forced to believe by her husband and family that her condition is simply insignificant, and there is no way for her to heal besides rest ... Read More

Time and Structure of William Faulkner’s “The Sound and the Fury” (664 words, 2 pages)

Time and Structure in The Sound and the FuryIn The Sound and the Fury, by William Faulkner, the essence of time is manipulated to both enhance the works development and meaning, and also to portray themes or details not available through a linear time structure. Specifically, due to Faulkners distortion ... Read More

The Character of Miss Emily in A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner (297 words, 1 pages)

In A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner, Miss Emily Grierson and her long employed servant Tobe both lived an isolated and lonely life. Being born as a hereditary obligation to her town, the Griersons were a family of tradition, meaning that Miss Emily had a standard to uphold. (Faulkner ... Read More

A Brief Review of Eudora Welty’s Short Story “A Worn Path” (1411 words, 6 pages)

A Worn Path During the time of slavery and the decades after, social classstruggles were obvious and predominant. In a white world, African Americansstruggled under great oppression and even after they were given freedomfrom slavery they were still held by the bondage of social status. EudoraWelty's short story "A Worn ... Read More

An Analysis of the Two Major Characters in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men (904 words, 4 pages)

03102010Period 3Forever AloneJohn Steinbeck carefully implements two important characters to bring a new outlook of life to the reader. Although loneliness may not be a rampant as it was back in the early 20th century, imbalances and injustices of preying on the crippled, sexism, and racism have a deep root ... Read More

The Controversy Surrounding the Protofeministic Themes in the Novel “The Madwoman in the Attic” (389 words, 2 pages)

The Madwoman in the AtticIn this except, Gilbert argues that many people in the Victorian Era criticized the novel for its protofeminist themes, its irreverence of religious devotion, and its rebellion against traditional social structures,kGilbert also makes the argument that throughout the novel, Janes journey is one from prison to ... Read More

A Review of Arthur Miller’s Dramatic Play “Death of a Salesman” (1026 words, 4 pages)

Long Paper II- DramaDeath of a Salesman is a dramatic play written by Arthur Miller, it was his third play that he wrote after graduating from the University of Michigan. Death of a Salesman tells the story of a salesman named Willie who is forced to realize that the American ... Read More

The Foolishness of Chasing Perfection in the Short Story The Birthmark by Nathaniel Hawthorne (769 words, 3 pages)

Nathaniel Hawthornes short story The Birthmark shows the foolishness of chasing perfection. Hawthorne conveys this theme through the characters scientist Aylmer and his wife Georgiana, who has a minuscule, hand-shaped birthmark on her left cheek. Aylmer becomes obsessed with this mark that keeps his wife from being perfect, and resolves ... Read More

American Literature Essay Examples